Let me start out by saying that I’m sorry for slacking on the blogs. There, I said it.
We made it Thailand! Our travel day was our smoothest yet. It was just a 2 hour 45 minute flight from Manila to Bangkok and maybe a 20 minute ride to the YWAM base. Woot! The whole squad is here for a debrief of the past 4 countries with staff from Adventures in Missions. It’s a time to be poured into. As you could see from my last blog, I’m spiritually tired. We all need these next 4 days to get ourselves ready for the next months of ministry.
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Y’all will hear more about that later though. Now I want to tell y’all about the Philippines and my boys at Children’s Garden. Children’s Garden is a refuge for former street kids. These boys have been abandoned, abused and left to fend for themselves. Most of them don’t know their fathers and some don’t even know either of their parents. The boys range in age from 15-20. Some of them have been on the streets since they were 6. They would steal, lie and cheat to get whatever they could in order to survive. Most of the boys had battles with vices like alcohol, weed and this stuff called rugbie (they would huff it to get high). Those were ways for them to numb themselves to the struggles they faced each day. They were trapped in a life they didn’t want and couldn’t handle on their own.
CG welcomes these guys in. Its existence isn’t there because of pity. It’s there because it wants to see a better future for these guys. Ante. Sharon is in charge of CG and a loving mother of sorts to the boys. She says that the vision of CG is to rebuild the guys after being broken down for so many years. The main goal is to educate and strengthen the boys to a point where they can provide for themselves financially, physically and spiritually. All the boys have chores and different responsibilities in the house. They either attend school or take part in skills training.
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Community is a huge part of the CG experience. There are about 18 guys who live under the roof of CG. They eat together, worship together and hold each other accountable. I remember the first time walking into CG and immediately feeling the love that lives in that place. Every day when we showed up at 1:30, there would be at least one of the boys waiting for us outside with a huge smile. No matter how tired we were from other ministry that morning, those smiles would instantly energize us. With a hug and a“Kuya Tommy!” or “Kuya Carl, Scott, Billy, Cameron, or Brian” is how they greeted us every time. “Kuya” means big brother, and that’s exactly how we felt every time we were there. These guys quickly became our brothers and we all instantly formed this unbreakable brotherhood.
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The beauty about the boys at CG is that they have such a thirst for the Lord. Countless times we would walk in to hear them worshipping downstairs. They have devotionals each morning and are involved in their local church and youth group. Our fellowships together never seemed forced. The guys were so open to hear what we had to teach them about our walks with the Lord. We shared testimonies, struggles and what it looks like to be a man of God. Not only did they learn from us, but we got to see what it’s like to be a mentor.
On Thursday nights, the boys pile into a truck and head down to an empty street in an impoverish area of Manila called Sta. Lucia. They pull up and instantly 20 or so street kids come running out with open arms to be lifted high in the air or taken for piggy back rides by the CG boys. We got to be a part of their outreach nights a couple of times. I won’t ever forget the few hours that we got to show these kids love they may never see. A few hours of joy each Thursday night where they can forget about trying to find food or a dry place to sleep and just concentrate on being a kid.
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It’s not just kids who come out on Thursday nights though. In the shadows sit the older street kids huffing rugbie trying to forget about life. They are trapped by vices just like the CG boys used to be. Who better to ministry to them then the former street kids at CG. Two of my favorite things about Jesus are reconciliationand restoration. The CG boys are walking examples of these gifts from God. They have been restored and reconciled from their old selves. What better example could these current street boys need? Who they could become through Christ is walking right in front of them! I love that!! This stuff gets me excited! These boys don’t need to be preachers or theologians to bring others to Christ. They just need to be themselves. They just need to tell their story of who they used to be and how Christ has restored them.
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So think about who you used to be. Are you talking to people who are trapped by the same things you used to be trapped by? Are you talking to the girls struggling with their identity? Are you talking to those who’ve been sexually abused just like you were? Are you talking to that guy tapped in alcoholism? Are you talking to your buddy who’s trapped by pornography? Are you?
YOU ARE A WALKING EXAMPLE OF RECONCILIATION!
So walk by these people and show them who they can become. Show them how Christ can restore them. Give the gift of reconciliation for Christmas. What better way to celebrate the birth of Christ, the reconciliator and restorer?
Much love.
